Led by the University of Groningen a large number of companies and knowledge institutions are working together on Digital Twins. These are digital copies of physical products and production processes with unprecedented possibilities. According to those in the know, this technology has Nobel Prize potential.
The companies from the Region of Smart Factory consortium and the Fieldlab Technologies Added in Emmen will test and roll out the technology. The project will receive 4 million euros from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The participating companies, including Philips in Drachten, will jointly contribute another 1.6 million euros.
Within the program, six universities (RUG, TU/e, TU Delft, Twente, Leiden and Tilburg) work together with 12 industrial partners and knowledge organizations from the high-tech, metal and composite industries. These are companies that are important to the Dutch economy, such as ASML, VDL, Tata Steel, Philips and Océ. Initiators Bayu Jayawardhana and Jan Post, both professors at the University of Groningen, lead the project and can appoint 19 researchers.
Digital Twin
DIGITAL TWIN stands for Integration of Data-drIven and model-based enGIneering in fuTure industriAL Technology With value chaIn optimizatioN. High-tech systems are becoming increasingly complex and difficult to design, produce and maintain. The DIGITAL TWIN program is developing methods to turn such systems into digital twins: virtual software versions that allow YOU to do simulations to predict, for example, how changes in design will affect performance, or which part needs maintenance at what time. Digital twins are now mostly based on static theoretical models that assume normal behavior. By coupling these models with measurement data that indicate how the system actually performs and combining this data with artificial intelligence, the researchers create digital copies that continuously improve and adapt themselves.
The program integrates theoretical mechanical engineering, software engineering, systems and control techniques and artificial intelligence. This produces digital twins that are more accurate and realistic that are suitable for speeding up ‘time-to-market,’ achieving error-free production in smart and flexible factories and smart maintenance of high-tech systems. With two ‘demonstrators,’ the project will make the benefits of digital twins accessible to a wide audience.
Read more about Digital Twins.
look at the video about the programs of Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.
